


Bully For You

by lindsey_grissom



Series: Crystal Heart [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-09
Updated: 2010-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-10 14:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/100918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindsey_grissom/pseuds/lindsey_grissom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Friends can be the best of strengths and the greatest of weaknesses</i>.  Fourth in the <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/3978">Crystal Heart</a> 'Verse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bully For You

"What've you got there?" Spinning around in surprise, James doesn't expect his friend to be behind him. Surely it isn't lunch time already? He looks at his watch and realises that not only is it lunchtime, it has been for quite some time. He really should pay more attention to time.

Receiving no answer to his question, his friend moves to stand in front of him, and takes the hologram he's holding into his own hands. The image flares to life and James can't help but grin when a red blush creeps across his friend's face. In the space between them, floating just above his friend's hand is a miniature version of a blue-eyed teenager, hair stylishly ruffled, snug blue jeans resting just below hips, torn black t-shirt accentuating a figure boys would kill for, and face sporting a come-hither look that is far beyond the model's years.

"I didn't know you knew about that." His friend is still blushing, his eyes caught between staring at the image of himself, and falling to the floor. The small figure struts along an invisible cat-walk, gives a turn before sauntering back.

Then the small teenager is gone, as his friend switches the hologram off and throws it back. James knows, of course, that his friend is embarrassed of his modelling. It makes him noticed, and his friend doesn't like that, because that always leads to questions he doesn't want to answer. In his fifteen years of life, his friend has worked hard to avoid those questions, but the Academy costs a lot of money, and even the engineering work he does at the Hospice doesn't pay enough for his tuition.

He wonders sometimes, whether his friend shouldn't be saving the money, because when he reaches sixteen he won't have anywhere to live. The nurses at the Hospice long ago decided that sixteen was as good an age as any for his friend to fend for himself.

But instead of saving, he is here at the Academy because he can't become a Time Agent without this schooling, and his friend has never lost that dream.

"I always know what you get up to; one of us has to make sure you keep out of trouble. Speaking of which, it says here that this is James Harper, care to explain how I became a model without knowing it?" His tone is serious, but he knows his eyes hide none of the humour he felt when he first saw his name under his friend's image.

His friend catches the humour and responds with an exaggerated pout, and James still thinks it's the best one he's ever seen.

"Awww, come on, James, I needed a name and I didn't think you'd mind." He doesn't mind, of course, but it's still fun to watch his friend squirm even if it's a pretence of discomfort.

His friend still doesn't have a name of his own, although his tutors and classmates took to calling him Blue after their first day at the Academy. James still doesn't and most of the time he never even needs to call his friend any name. They are looking for one for him though - he can't become a Time Agent without a name - but his friend is unique and they haven't found one that suits him yet.

"Well, you could've asked me first." The pout is replaced with the cheeky smile his friend is almost famous for.

"Yeah, but then, if you'd have said no, I wouldn't have been able to use it, this way it's too late to say no." He has to shake his head at his friend's logic. He should get angry when his friend manipulates him, but he can't because his friend doesn't even realise he's doing it most of the time and it's always harmless. Besides, his friend has enough people angry with him and best friends aren't supposed to make that worse.

"Okay, you win, and I don't mind if you use my name, just so long as Mother doesn't find out." His mother wouldn't really mind, but she would worry about her son and his friend getting into trouble and he doesn't like to see her worry.

His friend grins widely and it's all the warning he gets before he is pulled into a familiar tight hold. His friend is surprisingly physical in his feelings. James never used to understand, but he does now. His friend missed out on the type of contact other children received and now he makes up for it as often as he can.

"Oh, look, it's Untitled and his little love toy," a voice sneers from nearby and James feels his friend tense instantly. There is no shudder so it isn't from fear, which means his friend is getting ready for a fight. He almost sighs; nearly a whole week without a fight, and his friend had been doing so well.

"Go get eaten by a Slitheen, Curth!" Curth is two years older than himself and his friend, and had been the Academy's Golden Child. Until his friend had arrived. Even without a name and a family the Academy couldn't help but appreciate his friend's intellect. And then there are his good looks. Curth had felt threatened by the younger boy, and had attacked from day one.

First he had started calling his friend 'Untitled' because that was the name given to anything without a name, he said. Then, when he realised that that alone would have little effect, he had started on James. The first time he had aimed an insult at him, his friend had finally reacted. Unfortunately, the right hook to his jaw hadn't stopped the older boy; instead, it seemed to just make him more interested in bullying the blue-eyed boy.

Two years later, and the war between them is still going. It is Curth's last year, and that should make it bearable, but the older boy hasn't gotten a place in the Time Agency and he seems to think that it is all one person's fault. James is thankful his friend knows how to fight, with both fists and words, because he would have been killed long before now if he didn't.

James knows he is his friend's weak spot. Knows that his friend reacts on instinct alone when James is threatened, and there isn't anything he can do to stop that. He has tried, but it had been a useless endeavour, so now he simply tries to avoid any chance of the two boys meeting up. Obviously he isn't always successful in that.

"Oh, what's wrong, Untitled? Don't want to share your _friend_ with anyone else? Afraid that he'll find out how a real man is and leave you cold and alone?" Curth's tone positively drips revulsion and even as he stiffens himself at the accusations he hopes fruitlessly that his friend won't react.

In a matter of seconds he is being pushed away as his friend spins around and knocks the older boy to the floor. He sees the boy fall to the ground, blood pouring from his nose before he hears the accompanying crack.

His friend stands fists clenched and breathing laboured, as though holding himself back, and James knows that is exactly what he is doing, because he knows his friend would like nothing more than to beat Curth until no inch of him is left without a bruise. But he is in enough trouble as it is, and he cannot afford to do anything drastic enough that it will jeopardise his place at the Academy.

Someone must have called for the tutors because he can hear the sound of running feet. He presses one hand against his friend's arm and feels the taught muscles begin to loosen and relax. By the time the first tutor arrives his friend is once again in control, his expression one of wounded innocence, but there is murder in his eyes.

He doesn't know what is being said, but Curth is dragged to his feet and led to the Infirmary, and his friend is being pulled towards the Principal's Office. As glad as he is that he hasn't been hit and that accusations have stopped for the day, part of him wishes his friend didn't care about him so much. Because tomorrow morning, when he sees the slight wince in his friend's step and the blue bruise on his cheek, he will know that it is all because of him, because the doctors don't appreciate being called to the Principal's office like parents.


End file.
